I Will
by ncisduckie
Summary: If it's the last thing I do, I will reclaim my roots. Even if I have to start from the beginning. Even if I have to let go of the people I love.


**I Will**

**A/N: I'm taking the opportunity in this solemn time to start back up with NCIS fanfiction. That being said, this might be a once a month sort of thing. And I only update on Sundays unless I'm on school break. And I promise to finish Too Late by Tuesday. Because I *am* on a break right now. **

**But seriously. Hopefully I'm not stepping on any other writer's toes writing this. Each chapter will be based on a song in my writing playlist. This week is "The Great Escape" by P!nk. Also the title of an essay I wrote describing how I felt watching this past week's episode. **

**. . .**

I take a shirt from the bedspread and fold it carefully before placing it at the bottom of my backpack. Tonight is a new beginning. If everything goes right I can possibly erase all that has gone wrong. Not in just the past year. Hell, not even what has gone wrong in the past eight years since I first traveled to Washington D.C. No, my problems begin when I had been a mere seventeen. I did not run as I promised my mother I would.

I was damned to serve the Israeli army for two years.

My jaw clenches as I grab another shirt. Those two years had been when Ari joined Mossad and my mother had been killed. Maybe if I listened and ran off to Europe everything right now would be okay.

Reaching for my third and last shirt, my brain recalls the letter I received while in the army.

. . .

"_Mail for Ziva David."_

_My body sits up from my cot. Mail is a seldom occurrence. Especially for me. But the officer in front of me does not take into attention the fact in my head I am already panicking. He just drops the letter into my lap and leaves the room. _

_The other women in my room look at me expectantly. They had not received mail for a while and now their ties to the outside world lie in my own hands. With shaking hands I quickly tear the top of the envelope off and slip the piece of paper out of it. _

_Angry handwriting greets me and as my eyes scan over the paper only one thing can come through for me to think. _

_Oh, God. No. Not Tali._

_. . . _

A single tear falls onto my bag before I quickly rub at my eyes. Stupid tears. I grab my only extra pair of pants and reach for my Star of David necklace only to touch my bare skin. Right. Even that had to go.

. . .

"_I thought we said no presents," I whisper, looking down at a small crudely wrapped box. He had taken me aside after he gave the doll to the 'old hack' from human resources. It is late and I am absolutely positive people are going to begin to wonder about us at the building's holiday party._

_He grins at me with the smile of a child. I cannot help but give a small smile back. "I lied," he responds smoothly, prodding me to open it. "Come on. It's not going to bite you," he teases. _

_If only I can tell him how much I appreciate this without sounding like a sap. But It was his choice to break the rules. But does breaking our rule mean we officially broke rule number twelve? My fingers pick at the paper to reveal a dark blue velvet box. _No.

"_I-I can't," I try to shove the box back into his hands. It is a jewelry box. I know it and I cannot accept it. Nope. Too much for him to spend on me. I believe this is the _exact_ reason we said no presents._

_But he, being the man he is just smiles and pushes the box back at me. "Open it," he whispers._

_And I take a chance right here. I open the box and am greeted with a devastatingly beautiful Star of David Necklace. Replacing the one I lost in Somalia._

_. . ._

I choke on a sob before I shove my pants in without folding them. Tony should not have wasted his money on me. On somebody so replaceable. I only hope he can make good of it.

Closing my bag and quickly shutting it, I grab my plane ticket from the nightstand. I take one last look at the house I had been born in before turning back.

I need to reclaim my roots. This is just the first step. My free hand reaches for my pocket and pulls out a solitary piece of paper. The words "I Will" shout at me and I look at the first item on the list.

"Be a Ballerina"

**. . .**

**A/N: Questions? Comments? Concerns? Click the review button! **

**Anybody from the landofncis proboard? Just started lurking there again! ^_^;**

**Hope this was to everybody's satisfaction! Until Next time! **


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